Fandom: STARSKY & HUTCH
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Me & Thee Archive

Why this must be read: because it is one of the best tie-in stories to an episode I've ever read. The episode? "The Heroes," the one where Starsky takes $3,000 of Hutch's money and invests it in a falling-down house. On the show, Hutch is not amused, but in this story we see the real motives behind Starsky's purchase.

This story has it all: Hutch angst, Starsky angst, a lovely first time plot and the two men finally realizing that a house can be more than an investment, it can turn into the home you've always wanted -- with the person you love.

As per Dana's usual brilliance, this story is filled with raw emotions, intense dialog, great characterizations and a plot you can truly sink your teeth into.


Home Is Where the Heart Is

Fandom: INVISIBLE MAN
Pairing: Darien/OFC
Author Website: Story found at Invisible Man Fanfiction Archive
Why this must be read:

This is probably the only het or OFC I'm going to recommend this month, but it's definitely worth recommending. Maureen Silver is an interesting character, but Adelheide keeps the focus squarely on Darien's attempt to snatch a bit of normalcy for himself in his otherwise bizarre life, any way he can.

Darien smiled and released her. Maureen had to put a foot behind her to brace herself. He went to his jacket and pulled something from the pocket. He returned, holding a small square packet in his hand. For a second, she thought it was a condom. But the packet was too flat. She looked at him, the question in her eyes.

"It's a nitro glycerin patch," he explained.

Some of his weird behavior made sense now. Guilt flooded her chest, making it tight and hard to breathe. "Oh, Darien. I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you had a heart condition."

"It's not a heart condition. It's a...glandular problem. But this should help."

Maureen had an uncle who had to take nitro. He often complained of headaches afterward. She frowned and the little paper envelope. "Are you sure about this? I don't want to do anything that's going to--"

She didn't get to finish.

Auld Lang Syne
Space Between

Fandom: INVISIBLE MAN
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: xparrot
Author Website: XMagicalX.Net
Why this must be read:

One of the fears that most plagued Darien during the run of the show was that the Agency was just using him, that the only reason they hadn't gotten the gland out and set him free was to keep him on indefinitely as their indentured servant. In For the Good, despite Darien's assumptions, the members of the Agency risk their careers and their lives to save Darien from his worst nightmare.

There was a room, four walls, a ceiling, a floor, a single door always locked.

There was a man in the room. They rarely allowed him outside for any length of time. When they did, he often forgot those moments. Often, too, he didn't realize he was still in the room. After all, he was insane, most of the time.

When he wasn't, he tried to escape. And he would make himself remember where he was, why he was here, as much as he could recall, as much as he knew.

They had betrayed him. That was what he remembered.

Only somehow he couldn't make himself believe it.

For the Good

Hey, I’m entrenous88 and I’ll be driving the van for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom this month. I’ve got a bunch of recs to give you during November, so let’s get this van a-rockin’.

Fandom: BUFFY
Pairing: Spike/Xander
Author on LJ: china_shop
Author Website: China Shop’s Fic Index
Why this must be read:

Xander wakes up one morning and oddly enough, finds he isn’t breathing. Then he smells something cooking. It’s him.

Spike/Xander fics are fairly common, and body-switching as a device isn’t so very novel in the BtVS fandom, especially since we have a great two-episode canon example of it (from which this story takes its name). But china_shop does a fantastic job with the scenario, managing twists on both the pairing and the situation that make this fic fresh.

“This Year’s Vamp” features a wonderful Xander voice, and combines his character’s tendency to notice details with his newly-acquired temporary vampire senses in a way that is both startling and funny. china_shop gradually builds to a sense that Spike and Xander are getting to know one another from the inside out, along with all the complications that such knowledge brings.

Part of the pleasure here is reading sharply drawn images of how each character inhabits the other’s body and makes it his own. The smattering of pop culture references deftly used adds to the fun. From the moment that Xander wakes up smoking hot (yeah that, but also on fire in his newly occupied vampire body) to the closing humorous revelation of a final body-trespass, this is a Spike/Xander story that you’ll enjoy.

Warning for those who don’t like bloodplay. This fic has it. Good news for those who do like bloodplay . . . oh, this fic has it. Yes yes.

This Year’s Vamp

If you read and enjoy, please send feedback to the author.

Fandom: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL
Pairing: Anamaria/James Norrington
Author on LJ: berne
Author Website: n/a
Why this must be read:

Anamaria is a knife, a wind, a flame, all at once, and that's how Berne writes her. She lights up this story, just as she lights up James's mind and heart. I betaed this, but it survived. It's one of the few Anamaria/James stories out there, and I can't think why; this story shows how rich this pairing is.

Orléans

---

Feedback lights up a writer's mind and heart.

Fandom: STAR WARS PT
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: fernwithy
Author Website: Vader's Mask

Why this must be read: Post ROTS stories are emerging in the aftermath of the movie, often exploring the dilemma of Darth Vader suffocating the remnants of Anakin Skywalker. This story contains that struggle against the continuing Jedi Purge, but it has surprising details about Alderaani society. Vader investigates the the home of Bail Organa where he encounters the adopted Organa daughter. This provides great amusement, as do mentions of Jocasta Nu.

( Excerpt )

Process of Elimination

Hi! I'm Mar, and Ill be driving the van for Lost this month. I tend to like Shannon/Boone, Jack/Sawyer, and Jack/Sun stuff, but I will try to mix it up for you. :)

Fandom: LOST
Pairing: Sawyer/Kate, Jack/Kate
Author on LJ: eponine119
Author Website: a concern for dark corners
Why this must be read: This fic takes place post-Rescue, and it shows a lot of insight into the relationships between Sawyer, Kate, and Jack. The Sawyer POV is perfectly done. This is a very realistic, gritty view of what could happen after the rescue, in regards to Kate, and a must-read.

Claustrophobia

Hey, nanashi_sama here. I'll be your Crack Van driver for the fandom The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (overview to be posted by next week at the latest, sorry).

Fandom: THE SECRET ADVENTURES OF JULES VERNE
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: susanmgarrett
Author Website: Author's page at The Book of Knowledge
Why this must be read: In the beginning, there was The Suit.

The Suit was never part of the show, you must understand. It was what Sci-Fi Channel made Chris Demetral wear for the commercial blurbs. Think of the white suit that most actors playing an old Mark Twain would wear, brighten that up quite a bit due to the lighting styles used for those blurbs, and you have a pretty good idea what we're talking about.

The fans did not like The Suit.

Chris himself did not like The Suit.

Which led to Susan commenting in a chat one night that she would write a story in which The Suit would be destroyed in some way.

She wound up writing four. There were supposed to be five, one from each of the main characters' POV, but to the best of my knowledge she still hasn't written Jules' take on the matter.

Wait a minute, I hear you ask, five characters? I though there were only four actors in the main cast?

True. The Fifth Suit is told from the viewpoint of the Aurora.

Yes. The airship.

( At least give the ship a chance to convince you? )

The story itself can be read here or, if you have QuickTime, there is an audio version read by Adela Torres here.

Fandom: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 2003
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Author on LJ: leda13
Author Website: None
Why this must be read: Sometimes sexually charged angst is exactly what's required, and Leda does it beautifully in this.

Seven, Like Dante's

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Author on LJ: goddessleila
Author Website: Dream On
Why this must be read: "Rooftop" is a newer fic than my last two recs, and I found it through one of those rare but fortuitous random clicks on an unknown link. Sorrel manages the non-chronological technique with panache in this, to create a rooftop argument that's hot and funny and altogether charming.

Rooftop

Hi, I'm darthhellokitty, your crack van driver for Highlander in the month of November. Sorry for the late start, I've been under the weather this week, but now I'm ready to drive.

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Methos
Author on LJ: junoesk
Author Website: Cinel's Snuggery
Why this must be read: A beautiful take on what happens after Endgame.

There are a few reasons many Highlander fans have a love/hate relationship with the movie Highlander: Endgame. Series canon gets contradicted, and a much-loved character is lost. However, the way the movie ends has set up some very fine stories in the hurt/comfort category, and this is one of the best.

After Endgame, Duncan MacLeod is exhausted and grieving. He takes refuge with Methos, who gives him a place to find peace, and offers his help. This is not a story with a lot of action; the conversations - and silences - between Duncan and Methos are where everything happens, and in fact once Duncan arrives at Methos' London manor house, neither of them leaves it for the duration of the story.

Cinel's writing, as ever, is beautiful, and expresses the quiet understanding between the two perfectly. If you haven't read her before, this is a good place to start; if you have, this is a wonderful story to revisit.


Death Gives Ground

Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Pairing: Scott/ Logan
Author on LJ: Violet Glaze’s Journal
Author Website: Violet Glaze
Why this must be read:

I think Violet has written the most true to comics canon, and therefore the most disturbing, characterization of Logan that I’ve read in movieverse.

This Logan is indisputably a graduate of the Weapon X program. He is constantly boiling with anger. Like a whipped dog, he’s full of hatred and distrust for humanity. He is needlessly cruel and prone to irrational violence on small provocation. At heart he is desperately tired of his lifestyle, wishes for something sweeter, but his own bad self is his own worst enemy. This Logan is down and out, to the point where he’s willing to prostitute himself for beer money.

And we have a different Scott here, too. This Scott leads a double life, slinking off into the city when he can’t fight his physical attraction to men any more.

This Scott and this Logan meet one hot August night in the men's room of a Times Square porn theater, and they don’t meet cute. There is a violent confrontation between the two.

I think this is Wolverine as he is supposed to be. I think we don’t see more of him because what author could invite this character into her brain for a prolonged period of time? And what reader would tolerate him for the length of a novel? And how could he possibly star in a PG-13 movie? But this is fascinating characterization, and I recommend this story.

… the once-burgundy carpet now simmered in the August heat like roadkill stew in a crock pot … atomic particles of murder kicked up by every scuff his cowboy boots made on the trampled, forlorn carpet. And floating low, clinging to the stained walls and scuffed floors and decaying mahogany trim, threaded through every molecule of air like the marbling in a steak, was the low, humid, sweaty musk smell of men fucking. Something about that combination, that sex and death smell, got Logan juiced up.


You’ll Never Snikt in This Town Again, Part III

Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: n/a
Why this must be read:

I love established relationship fics.  I don't want stories to end with happily ever after - I want to see them live it.  This story takes a look at life at the loft.  No big plot - the biggest worry is whether the new bonsai plant will survive the Ellison/Sandburg household. 

( Blair's voice broke off . . . )

Of Tool Belts and Trees